Saturday, June 24, 2017

Letter: In Response to “Life Under the Flight Path” by Marvin Smith, Dana Point

Art Burnevik, Dana Point

Thank you to Marvin Smith to express my thinking about “the noise.” I live on board [a vessel] in the Dana Point Harbor and I would like the EPA and the Coastal Commission to convene a multi-million dollar “conversation” about sea lions barking at night and doing something about the fog horn and the sound of the waves on days with particularly heavy surf.

Not!

Smith touched on what I see as a burgeoning social malady that appears to be limitless PLS (Perfect Life Syndrome). From the perfect razor, the perfect underwear, the perfect smile, the perfect shirt length, the perfect car; it just follows that everything and everybody around the core of the unadaptable must comply with a flawed premise. This premise is that airplanes are causing excessive noise and disturbing the “balance of nature” for Dana Point residents. If it is natural silence that appeals, then move to the jungle or the country.

In the Dana Point Harbor, my peaceful, natural environment is stifled on weekend nights by Cattle Boat Charters with live bands playing so loud it drowns out my sound system and nearly rattles the Ibuprofen tablets in my medicine chest. I find boats with high cubic inch, straight pipe exhausts extremely annoying. The primary aircraft traveling my flight path are mostly military. I salute them as a sign of strength and security. I’m sure there are those people with PLS that would prefer that we close Pendleton to make theirs a more “perfect” environment.

Between the Harley mid-life cruisers and the audio sound systems with mind-thumping base output heard from a block away, I think Smith has the right idea. Focus on the obvious sound pollution. If you buy a house next to the railroad tracks, don’t ask the railroad to move. The idea of a perfect world may apply to underwear and razors, but let’s face it, no matter where you live, people must adapt. If you live next to John Wayne or in Newport Beach and you don’t like jets, why move there in the first place?

Complaining about the limited daytime jet noise in Dana Point is nonsense. Sorry, it’s not a perfect world.